"If that vital spark that we find in a grain of wheat can pass unchanged through countless deaths and resurrections, will the spirit of man be unable to pass from this body to another?" – William Jennings Bryan
Something's wrong…
Lucy cracked open her eyes with no small amount of effort and winced at the sunlight that seared her cornea, letting a low growl of distaste escape from her throat. She tried to speak but all that echoed back into her head were sickly gurgling noises. A high-pitched ringing assaulted her ears, deteriorating into a gentle hum which gave room for more unique sounds to be heard. One was loud and monotonous, something large and mechanic; what Lucy deduced to be the source of the erratic winds that stung at her melted flesh. However, despite the turbulent noise, she could also pick up on a myriad of voices from all directions.
She tried opening her eyes once more, surprised that she even had eyelids left and grimaced at the harshness of the sun; failing to move her head enough to shake away the blurriness. So she waited with patience as the blaring sound overhead continued and the voices grew more distant, giving way to a semblance of visual clarity.
All she could see was the warped metal beneath her, stained with pieces of liquefied skin and muscle tissue.
So I'm still at the lighthouse, huh? Oh well, sure beats another laboratory.
Lucy couldn't say what she was feeling, so many thoughts and emotions raced into her head as the reality set in. She was alive and denied the salvation that she had so craved only moments ago but as she was mulling over her current misery a new prospect made its way slowly through her mind. Maybe she could see Kouta and all her friends again.
Idiot, don't be stupid. I can't even move so much as make my way down from this damn place.
As her eyes finally adjusted to the light and her damaged ears began to function as best they could, Lucy expanded her senses to pick up on the activities around her. Still, without her head being able to move from the floor, all she could do was listen. The spinning rotors of a helicopter were easily recognizable as well as the barking commands of what must've been the last of the S.A.T. confirming her death to whoever commanded them now that Director Kakuzawa was dead.
The comforting scent of the ocean breeze tickled her misshapen nose and refused any harm on her body now that the numbness had completely taken over. Lucy was still fatigued but aware enough to pick up on a nearby conversation between two operatives.
"So we just leave her, eh? Can't even take a horn as a souvenir?" a man with a deep baritone commented dryly, obviously distraught over his mission. "That's what I'm told," another voice growled, seemingly belonging to an officer by the authoritative edge put into his words. "We've got orders to keep the bitch from disintegrating until the lab coats from the vector research center get up here to take her away and do fuck knows what with her." The conversation went on as the other voices in the area faded away in the direction of the helicopter.
Lucy cursed inwardly at the manner in which the men regarded her, even more so at the thought of being locked back into confinement at some new research center. No, she wouldn't let that happen as long as she was alive; Lucy was certain that she had escaped death for a reason and would protect her freedom until the end.
No killing!
The words rebounded violently off of every corner in her head but she didn't need to be convinced, Lucy would honor her promise even if she had to die once more to do so. She was finished with the hate and the murder; she was tired of it, exhausted mentally from carrying the weight of those she had slaughtered in cold blood. There was no guilt, there never would be but there was the disappointment and fear that she had instilled into those she cared about.
Only one vector manifested itself upon her bidding, a pitiful reminder of how weak she was in her current state. It searched the area acting as a heightened sense for Lucy's mangled body. She found the locations of the remaining troops on the platform as well as the helicopter as it set down to evacuate the personnel from the damaged lighthouse and then back towards the two operatives conversing next to her.
"Just got word that the researchers will be here at an e.t.a. of five minutes, we're cleared to leave," the officer grumbled, making his way to the attack helicopter with the other soldier a short distance behind him. "Can't wait to get some leave in the city tonight," he quipped enthusiastically.
When the roar of the helicopter was off in the distance and the tumultuous winds around Lucy had ceased, she called upon every bit of energy in her body in hopes of a miracle but she still remained face-down on the floor in a puddle of her own flesh.
Is this it…was I cursed by the human race for all the evils I've done to them? Am I to remain in this misery until they get their revenge? I suppose that I can't argue with that course of action. After all, I can't even count how many lives I've ended and tragedies I've created.
I just wish that I could see his face one last time…
Lucy wanted to scream at the top of her lungs but the necessary organs seemed to be missing. The familiar sense of being alone returned once more, even worse now than it was when she was just a frightened child. Tears refused to form in her eyes and Lucy sat lying in a pool of her sorrow and laments. How could it be anything else, she was destroyed in every sense of the word, her flesh and organs melted away into steaming piles of gore, her brain penetrated by a .50 caliber bullet; there was no explanation as to why she was still alive other than the malicious wishes of the human race.
As Lucy was drowning in anguish amidst the numbing sensations that crept through the remainder of her figure, she failed to realize that her body had resumed melted away into uniform carnage until only her spine and head were left intact while the rest vaporized into the oceanic wind.
"Nyuu?"
The awakening of her alternate personality stirred Lucy away from grief long enough to see that the tissue and organs that were once right below her nose had now vanished without a trace. The shock sent her trying to scream in horror but no sound would come forth from her mouth, nothing below her head existed save a set of vertebrae. It took only a minute until she was calm enough to assess the situation.
This is ridiculous even a Diclonius can't survive this kind of damage. What the hell is happening to me?
"I just want to know why I have to be back too! I didn't do anything bad!"
Lucy cringed at the volume of Nyuu's screaming inside their skull and mentally sighed when she had calmed into soft whimpers.
"So you're with me too, huh? I guess that means that something else's going on…but what?"
"How should I know?! You're the original anyway!"
The two personalities proceeded to clash back and forth out of confusion and fear, taking away the attention of both yet again as their body's facial structure began to repair itself at an alarming rate. The bullet hole in between her eyes began to seal itself shut and muscle fibers began to rapidly reconnect while thin layers of skin started to coat over them. Her teeth which were once hideously exposed were now covered with renewed gums and full, red lips.
Still, neither personality had noticed the transformation, wailing in conjoined despair over their immobility and powerlessness. Lucy was the first one to become aware of their repaired facial features when tears began to spill over her vermillion eyes, creating warm streaks down her cheeks and past the corner of her mouth until they dripped onto the sun-warmed steel of the damaged lighthouse.
What the hell…what just happened…my face is back?!
"Nyuu?!"
"Hmph…maybe we can get out of this yet."
"And see Kouta, right?"
"Of course."
With newfound resolve and dry eyes, Lucy gathered up as much mental energy as she could currently harness and then found herself at a loss of what to do next. She hadn't purposefully reconstructed her face, something else had activated the healing process but what it was, she couldn't even begin to guess. The only logical thing to do was to turn inwards.
"I don't suppose you know what I did, do you?"
"No clue."
Lucy and Nyuu sighed heavily in unison, putting their heads together to think back to what had transpired before their body began to repair itself. Time passed and nothing came to mind, it was unnerving for the both of them which made itself evident when Lucy began stringing curses together to form offenses that Nyuu could never have dreamt of. But even she had to admit that the situation had gotten her a little miffed over the last couple of minutes and as she had learned from Lucy's memories, they were pressed for time. A horde of scientists from the vector research center would be zipping them up in a body bag very soon.
Persevering through that thought however and seeing that Lucy would be of no further help, Nyuu took it upon herself to find a solution. It was only a short while until an idea popped into focus.
"I got it!"
"Huh, you do?!"
"Yup, we were both sad while it was happening. Maybe we'll get our whole body back if we're sad again."
"…damn…well I have nothing else to go on."
The straightforwardness of the plan seemed to match its simplicity, at least for Lucy it did. All she had to do was ponder over the idea for a moment before deducing that it was completely idiotic and reverted back into her previous, hopelessly melancholy state, eliciting several more tears to slide down across her face. Her sadness was genuine, laden with thoughts of the man she loved along with all her friends back at the Maple Inn.
Nyuu on the other hand, proved to be much more difficult as she actually believed her plan to result in success, that is if she could pull it off along with her other personality.
Well…if she can do it then I certainly can.
Despite her willingness to feel the overwhelming sadness that was within her only a minute ago, Nyuu couldn't even come close until the sound of distant helicopters released all the agony back into her mind. Memories she had taken from Lucy about the virus research center danced around her thoughts until the idea of being thrown into captivity once more sent her over the edge and into the familiar pit of anguish.
Both were so distracted by their depression that they failed to realize the vital organs budding in their ribcage, coating themselves in a network of arteries and veins until the muscle sealed everything in place and the skin stretched over, completing the torso. But neither of the two stopped as the ominous roar of the incoming vehicles continued their approach, sending the Diclonius spiraling into mental agony.
All at once, their brain snapped back into focus and the tears ceased to fall. Lucy looked up with wide eyes, shocked to be able to once again move her head freely. The shock nearly rendered her unconscious but the will to survive was greater. She rose clumsily, her jaw not even attempting to move up from the floor as she set her eyes on her new body. Everything was normal, no melted flesh, no exposed bones, and no piles of sickening gore anywhere to be seen.
Snap out of it! We're running out of time.
Lucy looked up towards the horizon and sighed in relief, turning her posture into a slump with a large heave. The helicopters were still out of visual range, leaving plenty of time to escape. Now that she had made up her mind never to kill again, there would have been very few options if the personnel aboard the crafts had seen her. But still, as she turned her head away from the vehicles, her eyes caught the scenery before her. It was the ocean as Kouta had shown her, vast and a deep sapphire color, reflecting bits off dappled sunlight back towards the source. It was beautiful, free of battleships and water spouts; it was the way the sea was supposed to be viewed; the way the sea had been when Kouta had shown it to her before everything was shot to Hell.
This sense of serenity didn't last long however, Lucy stood aghast when she panned her vision over to the nearby city. It was chaos. Massive steel structures stood only as a monument to those who had perished within them, permeated with gaping holes and burning high into the afternoon sky. Her ears picked up on screaming civilians and collapsing rubble, something she found oddly horrifying. The city was at least several kilometers away, how could she hear those people from her current position?
No matter, I have more important things to worry about than the actions of the voice of my DNA.
She was slightly disgusted with herself as she thought this; it was her old selfishness, something that she could have more than tolerated when she was a cold-blooded murderer but things were different now. Living with humans had resulted in the adaption of morals and she promised to herself that she would now consider how her friends would react to her actions.
Lucy cast another glance back up towards the incoming helicopters and grimaced, she needed to leave and she needed to do it now before they saw her. She looked once more to the wreckage of the city and quickly vowed to eventually aid in the reconstruction before leaping gracefully from the destroyed lighthouse.
The air rushing past her felt refreshing on her new body as she plummeted ever downwards, deploying her vectors just before hitting the beach and would have slowed her to a casual descent had she not been completely in awe of what she had just seen. What looked to be over three hundred vectors had plowed fiercely into the sand, sending particles of rock and shell sailing into the air.
What the hell?!
Lucy removed her face from the ground and stared wide-eyed into the sand, flabbergasted over what had just occurred. She remembered that she had been able to produce more vectors than usual when she activated her power to its limit but the number wasn't even close to how many she had just summoned. Lucy could feel them as well, their destructive power. It was horrible but at the same time it was incredible. All at once, she noticed everything that was different about her now that the impact from her fall had shaken away the remaining numbness and shock. Her mental power had increased what felt like a hundredfold, her vectors seemed stronger than ever, her senses were much more acute, allowing her to see colors more vividly and eliminate motion blur, to hear from kilometers away, and to keenly pick up different scents.
But Lucy found that her new abilities didn't stop there, her body felt more durable, possibly able to withstand the extremes of her newfound powers, she was vastly superior physically in her new body than she had ever been in her old one. She stood up hastily and brought her hands to the top of her head.
"Hmph, thought so," she remarked emotionlessly.
Her horns had grown substantially in size, something that had only happened once before and even then…the voice that had plagued her mind had been strong but now it was completely quiet.
Is it…gone?
At this thought, Lucy felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It was true, her DNA had been rendered mute by whatever had transpired on top of the lighthouse and now she was free from its hate and persuasion. Free to live, free to think, free to love…
"Kouta," Lucy whispered to herself, caught in a trance by her transformation and thoughts of the one she loved. However, it wasn't long until she was brought back into reality with the realization the air above her was silent; the researchers had landed.
"She's not here!" A voice boomed from the wreckage of the lighthouse. "Someone took the body, find it damn it!" Within seconds, half a dozen helicopters lifted off from the dilapidated structure and began combing nearby areas, searching for any clue as to where the supposed "body" might be. The thunderous voice began barking orders once more to whomever remained atop the lighthouse.
Lucy was already in the surrounding trees before the echoes had subsided.
Author's Note:
So this is my first Elfen Lied fic and I hope at least someone has enjoyed it so far. I just finished reading the manga and watching the anime (in reverse order) and I thought that I could definitely come up with something interesting to do with it.
Most chapters will be longer than this, I like writing chapters anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 words so this may take some time to update sometimes.
That's about it for the first upload, I know its kind of a weird series of events with a big cliffhanger but the update will come as soon as tomorrow and explain a ton in a logical manner.
Please don't forget to review! It helps with motivation.